Voice of dead, drowning in madness, twisted love
by Htress
Summary: Cloud's going insane, Sephiroth seeks death... Troubling. And hints of SephXCloud.


Disclaimer

I do not own FF7, do not, do not, do not… Like someone said some time ago : Life is a bitch… and then you die. *sigh* Anyway. I wanted to warn you: this is not a funny or happy fic… Be prepared for a major turn in event for Cloud, poor little thing… Mwahahahahaha!!!! Shonen-ai warning…

Voices of the dead, drowning in madness and twisted love

It all begun after Meteor, after Holy destroyed it… On the Highwind, when the bright light disintegrated the menace threatening the Planet, Cloud Strife toppled over the thin line of sanity, fell into the bottomless pit of madness. Everything started the day Holy destroyed Meteor, the day Cloud Strife fell mysteriously ill…

*********

Kalm

Tifa spread another blanket over Cloud. Since Holy, he was unconscious and the doctors could not find out why. Nothing seemed to wake him up, the blond was raving and tossing so much… Trying to reach someone, trying to save the only one thing he couldn't have saved.

- Seph… Sephiroth… Fail… fail… failure…

- Cloud…

- So he's still in the same state, whispered Vincent.

The fighter turned to see Vincent standing next to the window, gazing at the horizon. Tifa sighed. Cloud hadn't ate anything in three days. At this rate, he would die soon if they weren't taking him to an hospital or a clinic. She knew this, Vincent knew this, Yuffie, Cid, Reeve, Nanaki and even Barret knew this. Cloud, if he stayed the way he was, would die.

- Tifa…

- I know, Vincent, she interrupted, I know… It's been too hard for him. We should take him to Midgar.

- Reeve said that the hospital was full, but for Cloud they will make a place. After all, they owe him one.

- Thank you Vincent. I'll call Cid on the PHS.

********

So… I'm still alive? Damn you, damn you! There are still too much of you roaming around! Too much copies, useless now. Even if I call, without her to provide me strength, and with that much number of copies, you won't hear me, huh? I'll just have to exert myself, then. I know you want to hear me, I know you want me, you just can't get through this without me. I know. And I want to die too. But as long as you are alive as well, I can't die. You are really a failure, my Puppet. And what a failure… a Puppet that fell for me long ago. I told you, I told you I could not return your feelings, are pure as they pretended to be… And I see now that maybe I should have tried to… Ha ha ha!!!!!!!! What a bitter end for us! We were nothing, nothing but fools, in fact, I think I was more a failure than you. At least you managed to resist her while she ate what was left of me. Mwahahahaha!!!!! Oh yes, I am the greatest failure this damn planet had ever borne! Now it's your turn to move, you know what you have to do. I want to die, and I cannot. Wake up, my Puppet. Do what you have to. Do not fail me again. As much as I hate to admit it, I want you to die with me. Come to me my Puppet, but do not forget to accomplish your task. Let nothing stop you. Cloud…

*********

Blue eyes snapped open. His arms and legs were restrained. Restrained, tied down, did they thought he was a threat? A menace? He laughed hysterically, madness shaking his slender frame restlessly. Something moved to his left and his head snapped toward the sound. A brunette girl stepped out of the shadows. Tifa. He snickered. She would free him if he asked it.

- Cloud? Are you alright?

- Untie me, he said, his voice a little different from before.

- The doctors restrained you because you moved too much. There. All done. So, you're feeling better?

- I can't hear him…

- What?

- Where is my sword?

- Er… well, it's there, she said, pointing the wall across the room, but what do you mean, you can't hear him?

Cloud hopped down the bed, walking up to the wall where the Ultima Sword was resting. He closed his fist around the handle, feeling the leather under it, swinging it over his shoulder. Tifa was suddenly before him.

- Wait! You can't leave, yet! You're still tired!

The blond narrowed his eyes, his brow twitching.

- Are you trying to stop me?, he asked menacingly

- I bet I am!!! Now, stop this nonsense and go back to… bed?!?

- Yeah, sure! Mwahahaha!

The fighter stared with horror at the Ultima weapon buried deep inside her belly, blood spilling out of the large gash to form a puddle around her. Tifa fell to her knees, but the weapon didn't move, cutting up to her chest.

- Pathetic fool, pathetic, pathetic, pathetic little bitch!!!!, Cloud chanted joyously, Hihihi!! Don't look at me like that! I can't hear him, but if I kill every clone, then he will talk to me again…

Cloud pulled out the Ultima weapon from Tifa's body and left. And some of the nurses and patients would later swore that he was talking to himself, repeating over and over again the same things:

- Master, Master, I'm your Puppet, and my Master ordered me to kill!!! To kill!!! Kill, kill, kill again, slay, murder!!! Die, die, die they have to! Have to! Hahahaha!!!

And he was smiling.

*********

Vincent found the poor girl not long after Cloud left. He immediately called upon the other members of Avalanche, and, they decided reluctantly to follow their ex-leader. None of them dared to ask what to do of him once they would get to him… Once they got out of the hospital, they didn't have to search very far to guess which direction Cloud took. A corpse was lying in the street, decapitated. Yuffie had to turn around, the sight of it making her sick. Blood was staining the nearby walls, still dripping to the ground. A very fresh kill. It was clear Cloud had lost his mind, now, and they all nodded to the fact that they were the only ones able to stop him. They had to prevent this bloodshed.

- Foo's really crazy, stated Barret, I guess it's because that damn Sephiroth again!!!

- We all knew he was f?$%ed in the head at the beginning, retorted Cid, but I can imagine that he was still loving him when he killed the guy, even if he said he didn't.

- Why are you saying that?

- If you would stop barfin' for a second, you would see why.

They all looked at Cid's Venus Gospel, which was placed over the poor guy's hand. He wore the '8' tattoo.

- He's after the clones…?, wondered Vincent, Why?

- Maybe he's searching for him…, proposed Yuffie, Maybe he thinks he's not dead, y'know, just like the time he thought he was that Zack guy?

- An illusion?

- Anyway, foo's too far gone to bring back. S%$?!! He killed Tifa! Of all people! If someone could stop him it was her!

- He-he said not to stop him… or he'll kill us, too…, a redhead girl said, That guy is crazy…

All the Avalanchers nodded sadly. Now they had to find him. Which was not very difficult. He left 4 more corpses in Midgar, clones number 4, 11, 15 and one innocent bystander who probably, like Tifa, had tried to stop him. The trail lead them to Kalm, where clone 13 and 14 were found, both impaled trough the guts by the neat edge of the Ultima weapon. Junon was the next stop. To their horror, apart for clone 9, at least 10 people had died in the town's square, in the number was the young Priscilla. Obviously, Cloud was going to cross the ocean, just like before, and all they could do was hope that he would not kill any innocent during the trip.

********

So are you hearing me better, now? I guess you are tired, so much killing in so little time, hehehe. You enjoyed it, I know you did. Because you did it for me. I still don't know if you'll find me, though. You must not let anything stop you, remember that, because, one way or another, I'll get you, you know that. Well, for a failure, you do your job well, but then again, it's only because of me… I wonder… I wonder if we'll ever be free? HA! Did you hear this!?! I said 'free'!!! Hehehehehe!!! That was a good one! Ha! Freedom never existed! That's just a dream, as it was just a dream back then, too… Do you remember? Do you remember, Puppet? You of all people should… I neglected you, I never had the time for you, almost never listened to you……………… Is it true? Can you help me remember? Remember… I wish I could. It's so depressing, here. I am still alive? Have I ever been? I want answers, answers, answers… Puppet, you should get some sleep. Get some sleep… sleep? I feel weird, empty, maybe I should sleep too? Maybe we'll meet in your dream? Maybe we /are/ in a dream… 

********

- To remember? To remember… the scent of your skin, the kindness in your eyes, eyes, beautiful eyes, green, so green, beautiful, beautiful…, murmured Cloud. Kind, kind, kind you were, Master, occupied, yes, but always kind!!! Why, why, why??? Why did it happened? Master, master, Sephiroth, mighty you were, hero, my hero, to me, to me…

Cloud curled into a fetal ball and cried, hugging himself in misery. He had crawled on the boat without anyone noticing him, hiding between the crates. His uniform was soaked in blood, the blade of his sword coated in the thick brownish liquid. He looked like hell and felt tired, so very, very tired. The sobs quietened as he slowly drifted into a dreamless slumber, undisturbed until the boat docked. He was arrived at Costa del Sol. The blond was feeling nothing by then, and ran away from the sunny town, ran away like a tracked beast. North Corel wasn't very far, he could sense in the air that one of his prey was waiting for his demise, and he laughed, laughed until he cried of dirty mirth, delighting himself in advance. It was so easy. He would not have to search for long. a man standing at the entrance gate slumped on the ground bore the '10' tattoo…

- Toooooo bad! Bad, bad, bad!!!, chanted Cloud as he lifted his sword, I can't hear him well because of you! You! You! Hehehe! Be gone, gone, gone, then I'll be too!

The sword went down at an incredible speed, cutting the poor man in two diagonally. He didn't even wake up. Cloud exploded in a fit of giggles and left the town, leaving his bloody trail behind him. He travelled quickly, passed by Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon, to find himself before the town of Nibelheim. But he wasn't alone. The Highwind was landed not far away.

- Mansion, mansion, will they find me in the mansion? A lot of killing to do here, a lot, a lot!!! No one will stop me! They don't want to, don't want to die, die, die!!! Master? Master? Mwhahahaha!!! Hihihihi! Too many! They are too many here!!!

And, with a sly smirk, he quietly made his way into town, using a secret path.

********

Cid was smoking outside the inn. They had searched the town all day long, but found no traces of the clones in town. They hadn't find any dead body, either, meaning that Cloud wasn't arrived yet. The only place they didn't search was the Shinra Mansion, Vincent wanted to avoid going there at night. He was still afraid of that place. For a brief moment the pilot thought he saw something move in the shadow behind the old house, but couldn't tell if it was only his eyes playing tricks on him. Turning back, he entered the inn to get some sleep.

The next morning, however, nothing could prepare them for what they would find in the mansion. Upon entering, the stench of blood was suffocating, probably because of the number of bodies lying around… when they had done the tour of the first and second floor, they could count 6 clones: 2,3,5,6,7 and 12. That last one was still warm…

- These are fresh kills, hissed Vincent, He's here!!! In the lab!!!

They ran to the secret pathway behind the foyer of the second floor… The basement was gloomy as always, dark and creepy, the lab was undisturbed… undisturbed if they didn't count the green glow of the Mako tank, and the man that was slumped inside, raving. They all stopped dead in their tracks. Vincent carefully opened the tube and put a hand on Cloud's shoulder. Blue eyes snapped open and he grabbed the vampire by the collar of his red cape.

- Don't!!! Don't interfere, don't disturb, don't, don't, don't!!!! He's calling, calling I can hear him at last! I'm done, Master, I'm done, please talk to me again!

The blond pushed Vincent out of the tank and the others then noticed that the Ultima weapon was laying, broken, on the floor. They also all saw how Cloud looked tired, his eyes were red and had dark circles under them, his whole body seemed to have thinned in only some days.

- Cloud…?

- Nanaki… Red 13…

- What's wrong with you?, the beast continued gently, Please, Cloud, look at us.

Cloud complied, slowly, turning his head toward his friends. And it struck them. His eyes were so void of everything but pain and sadness. He seemed to listen to something that only he could hear. The blond tilted his head on the side and leaned against the glass once more.

- Not yet, not yet, please, don't talk, don't talk, I wanna hear him, he spoke quietly.

*********

I can hear you, now… Why are you crying, my dear Puppet? You want to be with me? It hurts. You hurt, every fibre of your body feels the pain, am I right? It's because you're done. I know, you're done. You didn't fail me, the failure didn't fail his Master Failure. At least we would have succeeded in one thing, you and me. We will die. The time is near, Puppet………………… I didn't use to call you that… ?

Sunshine! You used to call me Sunshine! HA! Just look at me now! Bloody, bloody, I'm all bloody, not a sunshine anymore, just, just a murderer! Man's slayer… Master, master, Sephiroth… My Angel…

Angel of death I am, now, Sunshine. What a pity… Mwahahahahaha!!! Pity, pity, pity is for the fools! But then again, we are! HA! Then let it be that way! Come!

Where?

I'm waiting, Sunshine. In the Ancient Forest. Hurry.

*********

After few more minutes Cloud stood up shakily, walking out of the Mako tank to sit on the examination table. Cid would take no more of this.

- Now explain yourself you damn…!

- My Master ordered it. Kill copies, kill clones, and kill everyone trying to stop me. That's all. I have to go now, he added in a daze, but you are staying here.

- Like hell we are!, the pilot retorted, we would like to know what's going on in your spiky, f?$?ed up beyond the words, head!!!

Cloud started to laugh hysterically, chilling them to the bones. It was exactly the same laugh than Sephiroth… Avalanche looked at their ex-leader, holding his sides painfully as he continued to repeat Cid's words in amusement.

- Hell!!!! Hahahaha!!!! Yes, yes indeed!!! He says you're staying here, so you are staying. Do not force me to kill all the rest of you, he hissed.

The blond then ran pass Barret swiftly getting out of the lab, slamming the door and locking it immediately behind him. In the distance, they could all hear him laugh.

- My Angel! My Angel, I'm coming, now! Hihihihahahaha!!!

*********

- The tracks are going north! I think he's going to the North Continent!, yelled Vincent through the intercom.__

- Don't tell me foo's going back to the Crater…__

- I don't think so, answered Red 13, Look, his Gold Chocobo is waiting for him outside Bone Village.__

- The Ancient Forest!, said Cid, Everyone prepare for landing!__

They quickly made their way to the ancient forest through Bone Village. The cedar scent was still the same, soothing. The quietness of the woods was not disturbed, maybe just apart those murmurs. The Avalanchers found the source of the voices… Unfortunately for them, it was their most feared nightmare. Slumped against a tree was Sephiroth, their nemesis, the man they fought so hard to stop. He was still alive. But that wasn't all; on his lap was Cloud, the handle of the Masamume sticking out of his back. Both impaled on the same sword. They were still alive, but they would not survive more than few minutes. Blood was running down Cloud's mouth already.

- Master… master… Sephiroth… It's… dark………… 'm scared…

Sephiroth did then something Vincent, as well as everyone, wasn't expecting. He lifted feebly a hand and closed Cloud's eyes delicately, pulling gently his head toward his chest. In a loving gesture, buried his nose in the spiky hair.

- Fear not, my Puppet… Death is not to be… Sunshine…?__

Sephiroth suddenly stopped and closed his eyes. And then, his maniacal laugh filled the quietness of the woods. His sunshine was dead, and his time was running thin.

- *sigh* Wait for me… I won't… be long… Hahahahaha… *cough, cough* Pathetic… to the end… You can laugh…__

And then he died. And to make sure of it, Vincent pulled out his Peacemaker and put it first against Cloud's temple, fired, and did the same to Sephiroth.

End

Mwahahahahaha!!!! I told you so!!!! It's been running through my head since a week, now. How did you find it?


End file.
